Mom and Three Kids Killed in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Answers to what led to the slayings of amother and her three children in a western North Carolina homemight have died along with the suspect, who killed himself aspolice closed in on him along a stretch of Utah highway,investigators said Wednesday.

For almost a week, Conover police detectives were trying to findthe man witnesses said was lurking outside the home and grabbed oneof the victims, yanking her inside. As sheriff's deputies insouthwestern Utah Tuesday night chased that suspect, alleged opiumtrafficker Chiew Chan Saevang of Wisconsin, he killed hisgirlfriend, Yer Yang, then himself, police said.

With no chance to question him in the shooting and stabbingdeaths of Lisa Saephan and her three children - 20-year-oldMelanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 4-year-old Cody - what exactlyhappened on March 12 in the quiet subdivision remains a mystery.

"It's like trying to put together a big puzzle," said CoyReid, chief deputy with North Carolina's Catawba County Sheriff'sOffice. "They could've finished the rest of the pieces. We stillhave a lot to tie up and finish in the investigation."

Authorities said that investigation could ultimately end withSaephan's husband facing charges of trafficking drugs. Although heis not implicated in his family's slayings, detectives suggestedthat Brian Tzeo's involvement in a trafficking ring with thesuspects may have been behind the attacks.

"The information we have suggests the father was a drugdistributor," Reid said. "He has cooperated with us. And we'renot at liberty to talk about that right now. It's an ongoinginvestigation."

Tzeo hung up when reached by phone.

Seven minutes after North Carolina authorities put out anational alert with Saevang's license plate, Utah deputies inWashington County spotted his car on Interstate 15 near thesouthwestern border with Arizona headed west. As deputies gavechase, Saevang's BMW hit another car, went up an embankment,stopped on a hillside and caught fire. Saevang had fatally shothimself and the 40-year-old Yang, who authorities said was anaccomplice in selling drugs and the killings.

Detectives in North Carolina learned of the deaths as theyprepared arrest warrants for Saevang for murder and for Yang foraccessory after the fact to murder. Reid said days of poring overnotes and taking in tips, including those generated by the case'sappearance on "America's Most Wanted," led them to the couple.Both were also expected to have been charged with conspiracy tosell opium.

Authorities said Tzeo would receive opium through the mail fromThailand, convert it to heroin and give it to Yang who lived inLong View, in Catawba County. She would take the heroin to Saevangin Wisconsin, where he would sell it, they said.

Kelly ODriscoll, spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court forthe Western District of Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin State Journalthat Saevang had ties to the Schofield, Wis., area, about 130 milesnorth of Madison.

"There was some drug distribution that came out of thathouse," N.C. State Bureau of Investigation spokesman Dave Callsaid about the North Carolina home.

Investigators would not discuss details about what led Saevangto kill Tzeo's family in the community about 40 miles northwest ofCharlotte. They have said Tzeo was at work when his family waskilled. Cody was found shot to death at the kitchen table, hisfingers still inside his cereal bowl.

Funerals were held Wednesday afternoon for the victims in nearbyNewton. Tzeo has said he wants to take his family back toCalifornia for burial, but authorities have not said whether theywould allow him to leave the state.

Authorities found the victims after a friend of Pauline's called911, screaming and sobbing as she told the operator Pauline hadjust been pulled into her home and stabbed by a man. The friend hadpicked up Pauline for school that morning, but they went back afterthe friend said she had seen a suspicious man outside the house.

Tzeo has said he and his wife had separated and that he had anaffair but they were still living together and trying to workthings out.

Yang's criminal history showed convictions for forgery andlarceny and several charges related to obtaining property by falsepretense. Saevang faced several charges of trafficking in opium inCatawba County over the last six years.

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